The first meeting of the Facility Task Force introduced members to the community engagement process and the role they will play in assessing and shaping the future of district facilities. Discussions covered the purpose of the task force, why we are here, the engagement process, school demographics, and the evolving landscape of education. As the world and educational needs continue to change, the group explored how these factors must be considered when planning for facility improvements.

Task force members had the opportunity to engage in discussions and submit their input based on the information shared. One key activity was the Brag, Worry, Wonder, Bet exercise, where participants recorded responses to the following:

• Brag: What do people take pride in within the schools and communities of F-L?

• Worry: What concerns exist about the schools?

• Wonder: What questions do people have?

• Bet: What would they place a bet on for the future of the district?

Additionally, task force groups answered the following questions:

1. What would be a great outcome of this process?

2. Are we preparing kids to enter our changing world? How or how not?

3. What are 1-2 takeaways that can be shared with friends/neighbors?

4. What is the essence of Frankton and Lapel? (In other words, what makes F-L, F-L?)

Check out the link for the slide deck used in the meeting as well as the input collected from the task force.

This meeting set the foundation for a collaborative and informed decision-making process, ensuring that community perspectives play a central role in shaping the district’s future.

• VIEW THE MEETING PRESENTATION

• BRAG, WORRY, WONDER, BET EXERCISE

• ADDITIONAL QUESTION OUTPUT

Meeting #2 focused on school finance and funding, featuring guest presenters Chad Blacklock (Stifel Public Finance) and Erik Long (Ice Miller Legal Counsel). They provided an overview of Indiana’s public school finance system, highlighting the increasing complexity of financial management due to legislative changes, teacher pay, student enrollment competition, inflation, and the role of operating referendums in maintaining district viability.

The presentation also covered:

• How school building projects are funded in Indiana, explaining the remonstrance and referendum processes

• Financial options available to districts

This discussion provided critical context for the task force as they continue exploring facility needs and potential funding solutions.

• VIEW THE MEETING PRESENTATION

On March 11, members of the community task force toured Frankton Elementary School to assess how the building supports student learning and identify potential areas for improvement. The tour focused on both the school’s infrastructure and learning environments, providing valuable insights to help guide future planning and decision-making for the facility.

The infrastructure tour of the building was led by Superintendent Boles and John Willis, COO. The learning environment tour was conducted by Principal Gray and Wendy Smedley, CLO.

• VIEW THE TOUR OUTPUT

On March 12, members of the community task force toured Lapel Elementary and Middle School to explore how the facilities support student learning and identify potential areas for improvement. The tour provided valuable insights into the school’s infrastructure and learning environments, helping to inform future planning and decision-making for the facility.

The infrastructure tour of the building was led by Superintendent Boles and John Willis, COO. The learning environment tour was conducted by Assistant Principal Huntzinger and Wendy Smedley, CLO.

• VIEW THE TOUR OUTPUT

• VIEW LEMS/FES POTENTIAL PROJECTS

Group 1 – Frankton, Feb 11

• Appreciate:

  • Small town school and the values of the small town

  • Welcoming atmosphere

  • Everyone knows everyone

  • Homey community

  • Safe community

  • Common shared values

• Concerns:

  • Safety?

    • • School resource officer dedicated to each building.

  • What they are teaching

    • • Core value teaching “old school”

  • How do we keep a stable population?

  • Staff retention

    • • Good working conditions

      • Support from administration

      • Avoiding burn-out

  • Behaviors

    • • Difficult to deal with some behaviors and sometimes lack of staff and facilities to meet the needs of that child. 

      • Some incredibly disruptive students especially with the younger students.

      • Seemingly lack of follow-thru with some discipline issues.

Group 2 – Frankton – Feb. 11

• Appreciate:

  • Community heavily supports extra-curricular activities within the schools.

  • Engagement; Schools efforts to interact with students and parents.

  • Community based programs geared towards giving and selfless service. SIA, Community Garden, etc.

  • Appreciate the organizations that volunteer their time to work concessions, food drives, auctions, souper-bowl, etc.

  • Togetherness: Feels as though there is less than two degrees of separation between each person.

  • Community based organizations: Boy/Girl scouts, Frankton Girls Softball, Youth Flag football, Little League, etc

• Concerns:

  • Internet access for the town.

  • Town infrastructure: Could it handle school upgrades in the future. 

  • Should the population of Frankton increase, how can the school accommodate. There have been whispers of an addition being placed within the district. 

  • Emergency Management. Response time for both fire and police.

  • Communication between local law enforcement, local agencies (dcs, etc) with the school district.

  • Community engagement inwards to the school. The school tries hard to connect with the community, however the community wants sacrifice for the school. Case in point, the attendance at this meeting.

Group 3 – Frankton, Feb. 11

• Appreciate:

  • People Consistent, a lot of community support for our schools. Good students and families. 

• Concerns:

  • Economic levels drop in the area. 

  • Priorities on spending haven't been transparent. 

  • Better communication with constituents

  • Outdated classroom environments in the high school 

  • Students' ability to socialize in person with other students. 

  • Too much electronics at times. 

Group 1 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Appreciate:

  • Support given by the community at school events and extra-curricular activities

  • Communication between community members, parents and school staff is effective  

  • Small community and small school, with appropriate student-teacher ratios 

• Concerns:

  • Class size relating to new houses being built in the district and amount of out of district children being allowed in

  • Are we trying to grow or are we trying to grow to be like our neighboring communities?

  • Water quality in the school.

Group 2 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Appreciate:

  • Size

  • Community is nicely tied into the school

  • The school is the center of the town

• Concerns:

  • Opportunities and extra curricular activities

  • Age of facilities- do they meet the educational needs of today

  • Bathrooms

  • Plumbing

  • Mold

Group 3 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Appreciate:

  • Small town feel

  • Connections

  • In schools, small learning environment for students and a sense of community for students and families.

  • Neighbors helping neighbors

• Concerns:

  • Facilities keeping up with times to prepare students adequately for the future.

  • Weight Room and another gym are needed in order to be competitive and provide opportunities for students.

  • Course offerings  - Are course offerings sufficient to meet student needs and adequately prepare for life after Lapel.

  • Are we posting job openings for opportunities within our school system out to the public for adequate length of time to attract the top qualified candidates from outside our community or district?

    • • We tend to hire from within - and is that always the best choice and best candidate for the job?

  • Do we have enough varied class offerings to stay up with or ahead of the public demands and needs for our children to compete in the real world? (ie. social media? Marketing? Technology? Different languages? And the list goes on….)

  • Do we have enough diversity in our children’s school experience to be prepared for what the real world is or they will experience in the real world outside of Lapel Indiana?

Group 4 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Appreciate:

  • The people.  The small town.  Better education.  Opportunity (and possibly expectation) to participate in multiple activities.  Opportunities for parent involvement.

• Concern:

  • What happens when the growth comes?  Incongruity between costs and benefits from a geographical distribution perspective.

Group 1 – Frankton, Feb 11

• HVAC in both gyms at FJSHS

• STEM Lab - Open maker space

• Greenhouse

• Auditorium at Frankton

Group 2 – Frankton – Feb. 11

• The vocational programs. Focus more on trade skills. Schools focus heavily on graduating and going to college whereas there are a lot of kids who will never attend college. 

• Facility design. Limit points of entry, limit access to playgrounds, increase security measures. Increase communication.

• More student based programs. Access to more clubs.

Group 3 – Frankton, Feb. 11

• More choices of classes

• More realistic opportunities for future life career paths

• Wrestling room, to small an official mat is 38 x 38 room is currently about 18 feet shorter. Unsafe. Has not changed since 35 years. 

• Hated Desk

• Spread class rooms out throughout the school

  • • Example the band area, the aux gym area 

Group 1 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Air Conditioning/Ventilation: There was nothing worse than trying to focus and complete your best work while sweating and being uncomfortable. 

Group 2 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Library was old and not inviting 

• Bathrooms and main gym were terrible

Group 3 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Modern technology and resources

• Athletic facilities like what schools have today!

• Technology savvy in classroom and school as a whole

• AI needs to be integrated into the school offerings - the wave of the future for students and public

• Theatre and Arts - increase

• Entrepreneurship class

• Business courses - increase what’s offered to prepare students for college and the real world

• Marketing - classes and clubs to empower students in this area

• Business - classes and clubs to empower students in this area

• Leadership classes - to encourage students who excel in this area to pursue leadership or management for their future

• Allow kids to take classes to learn on the job a skill they can do during school time to get paid for - while they learn and compete their high school diploma

Group 4 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Would like to see more academic offerings.

Group 1 – Frankton, Feb 11

• Comfortable desks

• Warm inviting classrooms

• FJSHS new windows are great!

• New remodels of cafeteria and library at Frankton are great.

• Despite having 3 gyms, gym space can be difficult to get.

Group 2 – Frankton – Feb. 11

• Kids love IPADS/Tablets. Is there a way to replace the chrome books with IPADs. 

• There is no auditorium, maybe having a more permanent stage.

• Schools grading tiers. A percentage of kids may try a little harder if certain academic achievements were realistic and attainable. For example: To get an A+ a student must attain a 99.5 or higher. One would imagine that this is not realistic or attainable to 99% of the school. If this was adjusted to 98.5 you may open the door to a percentage of students focusing that much more on attaining it.

• Building an Annex like We-Del.

Group 3 – Frankton, Feb. 11

• Think about future educational and social needs and incorporate that into the learning environment. 

• Work on class room temps

• Soft skills, Employability skills

• Smaller class size 

Group 1 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Classroom size that allows for small group learning where students can also easily move around the classroom.

• Lunch room: Very small which leads to students eating very early and very late in the day. The students are crammed into the lunch room. 

• Bathroom improvement/cleanliness

• Flexible seating options in all classrooms

Group 2 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Heating and cooling 

• Lighting

• CO2

• Bathrooms

• Classroom size

• Space of entire facility

Group 3 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Collaborative learning spaces

• Modern technology and resources for students and teachers

• Additional and updated athletic facilities - weight room and new gym or multipurpose gym

• Improved and modernized HVAC systems

• Work based learning - allow students to work and learn and get an income to support themselves if possible during school hours

• Have culinary area

• Have a theatre and arts area

• Create spaces like a “Google environment” for group thinking and masterminded and learning together - masterminding

• Create classes and space for Entrepreneurial students to learn – at their own pace – like a ‘Montessori like’ style – for those kids who can’t stand to sit in one place for lengthy periods of time

  • • Allows students to learn faster or slower than the ‘norm’ class

Group 4 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Ventilation system improvement.  Group seating options for collaboration.  Tables/desks and other infrastructure for standing/sitting, ergonomics.  Athletics as the “front door to the educational system” can be improved by increasing attention on the aspects this community gravitates to.  One aspect that could use attention is the weight room.  This is a prominent part of the development of work ethic.

Group 1 – Frankton, Feb 11

• Safety has no price

• If it is needed then it is needed, no question.

• Kids are the future, we want them to be safe and not to be afraid.

• There is no better investment than education and our future.

• Want to see nice facilities as a product of your tax money.

• Make sure to show off your facilities and host the community within your building. Community open house.

Group 2 – Frankton – Feb. 11

• Our most valuable asset is people. At face value the facilities look great compared to most schools. With extra funds I would look to invest in staff. The district is extremely low when it comes to funding such things as substitute teachers and aids. For example, if subs could get a per day rate equal to surrounding districts we would not only get an influx of subs but also a better quality. This can be said for aids as well. By doing both it would alleviate a lot of undue stress put on teachers and administrators caused by staffing shortages. The impact would be a healthier environment, boost in morale, increased safety and education.

• Want a better understanding of how the taxes impact the school and its investments.

Group 3 – Frankton, Feb. 11

• Disappointed at the ways schools are funded. 

• To see students and the community succeed 

• Communication - When we have success, it needs to be communicated with the community. 

• Limit voucher programs or charge those out of district a fee to help balance the tax impact. 

• When we feel like our kids are being successful we are willing to pay for it. 

• Be able to see the visual impacts would make us see the value in a balanced school 

Group 1 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• You will never make everyone happy.

• Putting student learning first, what are the needs vs. wants?

Group 2 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Fine with higher taxes when it is reflected in the quality of the education 

• Increases in teacher salaries/benefits would improve the educational opportunities of students and overall return on investment of our tax dollars

Group 3 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Facilities and academic programs that will adequately prepare students for life after Lapel.

Group 4 – Lapel, Feb. 12

• Make it practical.  Make improvements with quality in mind, but prioritize practicality over aesthetics.  Improve facilities for teaching the trades.  Make the facilities match the marketplace.